Agricultural News

State Wheat Specialist Dr. David Marburger, joined Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays in studio recently to give an update on the current condition of Oklahoma’s wheat crop here in 2017. He says with the recent moisture over the last couple weeks, we should be faring better than we were these last few months.

“I know the crop ratings went down. That’s because we were pretty dry going from the end of November into the beginning of the year,” Marburger said. “But this rain was welcomed and that’s definitely going to help improve some of our condition and it’s going to have enough soil moisture really here to kind of help carry us through the winter.”

According to Dr. Marburger, the wheat crop condition here in the state is rated “good to mostly fair” currently. But, while he expects crop conditions to continue to improve, he says producers will likely finish what they started regardless of the condition come harvest, referring to his impression from his engagement with producers around the state.

“Going into this growing season, producers didn’t know quite what to do, whether or not they were going to be taking their wheat to grain or just go ahead and focus more on grazing,” Marburger said. “Moving forward from here, I’m going to suspect a lot of our producers are going to stick with their plan whether they are dual purpose or maybe have an increase in some of those graze out acres.”

For those that are grazing but intend to harvest their grain as well, Marburger recommends paying attention to that growth development stage of “first hollow stem.” He says that is the optimal time to get cattle off wheat pastures before your yield potential starts to drop. To assist with identifying that right time in your specific location, Marburger directs farmers to a new online tool developed by researchers at Oklahoma State University in cooperation with staff at the Oklahoma Mesonet.

“The First Hollow Stem Advisor - It’s a tool to help us, based on historic weather data and measurements on first hollow stem, to help give us predictions of where we are in terms of first hollow stem for varieties that range from what we consider early to late around the state.”

To learn more about the First Hollow Stem Advisor, click here to jump to a related story.